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JUST IN: Adamu To Meet APC Govs

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The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Adamu, has invited the APC State Governors to an emergency meeting on Sunday.

The development is coming in the wake of the growing friction and cold war between the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and some aggrieved governors over the naira redesign policy that has subjected a number of Nigerians to untold hardship in the last three weeks.

The PUNCH also reported how a pocket of violent protests, bank vandalisation and killings took place in several states, notably in Lagos, Rivers, Ogun and Edo states.

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READ ALSO: JUST IN: APC Releases Imo, Kogi, Bayelsa Gov Primary Elections Timetable

The lingering cash squeeze policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria was further worsened following the declaration by the president that the CBN should allow only the old N200 to co-exist with the new naira notes.

Hours after the president’s broadcast, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State had addressed Kaduna residents, saying the former military Head of State was wrong on his directive to recirculate only the old N200 banknotes as part of measures to curb the cash crunch in the country.

El-Rufai, who said the old N1,000 and N500 were still legal tender in his state, did not mince words when he stated that the aim of the naira redesign was to scuttle the general election and give room for an interim government.

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The PUNCH also reported that El Rufai and two other APC governors from Kogi and Zamfara states sued the Federal Government seeking a restraining order to stop the full implementation of the naira redesign policy of the CBN.

READ ALSO: 2023 Presidency: Ganduje Hits Buhari Hard, Says President Wants APC To Lose

But the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing until February 22.

The friction between the governors and the president reached an unprecedented height on Friday when the APC Presidential Campaign Council was compelled to release a statement to debunk claim that its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, asked some APC governors to disregard the directive of the president.

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While stating that it is fake news being peddled by an online platform, the Director of Media and Publicity for the APC PCC, Bayo Onanuga, noted that the alleged information did not emanate from the PCC Adviser on Media and Communications, Mr Dele Alake, as being alleged.

Hours after the PCC statement, the ruling party through its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, announced that the APC national chairman would meet officially with all the APC governors.

Although Morka did not state the agenda for the meeting, sources noted that it had a lot to do with the division and cold war going in the ruling party.

READ ALSO: 2023 Polls: How Division In APC Threatens Tinubu’s Victory

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The statement read, “The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), His Excellency, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, invites State Governors of the Party to an emergency meeting to be held on Sunday, February 19, 2023 by 2pm at the National Secretariat, Abuja.”
PUNCH

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Poll: APC Has No Sellable Candidate, Nothing To Campaign On – Edo Govt

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The Edo State Government claimed on Monday that the All Progressives Congress, APC, has no credible candidate for the September 21 governorship election.

This was an assertion made by the Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, at a press conference in Benin City.

Nehikhare also alleged that the party is using lies and propaganda as its campaign strategy.

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READ ALSO: Edo Poll: Reason Ex-Speaker Resigns From PDP Revealed

According to him: “The only APC strategy for the governorship election is to resort to lies and propaganda. When a party takes lies and propaganda as an election strategy, it means it has nothing to offer the people. The party lacks people with character, capacity, and intellect.”

The commissioner who took journalists through a screened shot WhatsApp chat said: “What we have here is the official APC WhatsApp platform, their own people screenshot their discussion. One of them who has a conscience asks, is this the only thing we have?”

Nehikhare, who said APC is ashamed to campaign for its candidate, noted that, as of today, nobody had heard of what the party has for the state.

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READ ALSO: Edo: Man Arrested For Posting Obscene Photos Of 4-year-old Daughter Online

All we heard is how they are going to help their paymaster, lies and propaganda that will not help the state,” he added.

He opined that lies and propaganda are not strategies the opposition party, like APC, can use to win the September 21 governorship election.

The commissioner, who warned against misinformation and fake news ahead of the governorship election, urged media practitioners to be neutral in matters concerning lies and propaganda.

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He, however, noted that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration has a lot of achievements to market and sell its candidate for the election.

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Defection: Edo Govt, Ex-PDP BoT Member, Idahosa In Verbal War

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Edo State government and a former member of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, Charles Idahosa, on Monday traded words over the latter defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Recall that Idahosa resigned
formally resigned who had last month resigned from PDP, rejoined the APC on Monday in Benin City.

Speaking during his formal presentation to the APC in Benin City, he noted that he left the party four years ago due to internal crisis.

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Idahosa added that he dumped the PDP because of what he described as the “damning deeds of the Obaseki-led administration in the last four years”.

READ ALSO: Edo Guber: Ex-PDP BoT Member Joins APC, Says ‘I Regret Supporting Obaseki

He took a swipe at Obaseki for saying that PDP would win the forthcoming September governorship election with 80 per cent of votes.

I thank God, four years later we all are wiser now. Like the Secretary said, I was a founding member of ACD, ACN and APC. The damage we did four years ago, the APC never remained the same.

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“But I am glad we are back to the family. I was nominated to the Board of the Railway when I was in the APC. When I moved to the PDP, I wrote to resign my membership but it was rejected and showed my wide acceptance.

“At 71, I am not here to contest position with anybody, I am here to work. I want to urge APC to keep their eyes on the ball. It is not over until it is over.”

READ ALSO: Labour Party Crisis: Edo Deputy Gov Tackles Akpata

While lambasting Governor Obaseki for his comment that those leaving PDP have been given money, he noted that his greatest regret was not allowing the governor to resign after his first four years in office.

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“When he came to beg me like a weather beaten chicken, how much did he give to me? Anytime he goes religious gathering he would say those leaving PDP have been given money.

“He came to me three times in my house to say he wants to resign, that he was tired of being governor but I appealed to him, telling him it was not about him but Benin interest.”

But in a swift reaction, the state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare alleged that Idahosa was never a PDP member.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo To Adeleke: Keep The Dancing Spirit, Deliver On Infrastructure

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Nehikhare noted that Idahosa was also never a BOT member of the party, because the party in the state rejected his nomination.

He alleged that it was as a result of the rejection that he found his way back to APC.

I heard that he claimed to be a member of BOT of PDP but I want to challenge him to tell us when he was sworn in as a member of PDP BOT. He was not a fit and proper person. Even though he was nominated he was shunned by the party.

“It was this that drove him back to APC which he never left in the first place. He was holding on to the board appointment which was offered him while in APC prior to 2020 governorship election.

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“He has reached the end of his political career. He has nothing to offer any political party or any group he joins because he believes in bread and butter politics,” Nehikhare said.

 

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Edo Guber: Ex-PDP BoT Member Joins APC, Says ‘I Regret Supporting Obaseki

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A former member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Charles Idahosa on Monday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he regretted supporting Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki four-year ago.

Idahosa said his greatest regret is stopping Governor Godwin Obaseki from resigning in 2020 after he was frustrated out of the APC in his bid to seek reelection on the party’s platform.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after his declaration for the APC at his residence in Benin City, with leaders of the APC in attendance, Idahosa said his return to the APC is homecoming.

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The former Information Commissioner in Edo State said in 2020, the governor had cried to him over the ill -treatment meted on him by his predecessor and National chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole and was considering resigning.

Idahosa noted that Obaseki was at the verge of giving up to allow the APC to pick another governorship candidate, but he (Idahosa) encouraged him to keep hope alive and he personally fought the battle for the governor to win his reelection .

Idahosa, however, lamented that Obaseki utterances during the inauguration of the PDP Campaign Council for the 2024 election was heartless and uncomplimentary when he accused the defectors from PDP as having received huge sums of money before their defection.

The former BoT member of the PDP, while urging the Edo APC leadership to work in synergy ahead of the governorship election, said that the greatest misfortune to befall the APC is for Godwin Obaseki to install a successor.

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Idahosa who pledged his support for the governorship candidate of the APC, Senator Monday Okphebholo, said street survival instinct not doctoral degrees (PhD) or big grammar is needed as a criteria for the next governor that will succeed Obaseki.

He urged Edo people and the APC to put the damning deeds of the Obaseki-led government of 4 years ago in the past and unite to stop the governor and the PDP governorship candidate from taking over the governance of the state in the September 21st governorship election.

He said, “Four years later, we are all wiser. I am back to the APC, which is my family. It is homecoming for me and I am very comfortable. At 71 , I am not going to be a threat to anybody. I am joing the APC to work. Nobody should be afraid or scared that Charles Idahosa is joining the APC because I won’t be contesting any position. “

Earlier, the APC state secretary, Lawrence Okah, while receiving Idahosa into the party, said the former member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Charles Idahosa is a man of honour and a foundation member of the APC.

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